Nouakchott, Mauritania

Nouakchott, Mauritania

  1. City Scan ∨
    1. Executive Summary
    2. Setting the Context
    3. Population and Demographic Trends
    4. Economic Activity
    5. Built Form
    6. Climate Conditions
    7. Risk Identification
    8. Local Institutions & Planning
    9. Key Considerations for Investment Planning & Prioritization

by the City Resilience Program

Nouakchott, Mauritania

City Scan

February 2026

Austrian Federal Ministry of Finance

Swiss Confederation Federal Department of Economic Affairs State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO

Gates Foundation

MAECI

GFDRR

World Bank

Executive Summary

Setting the Context

Nouakchott is located in southwestern Mauritania, along the Atlantic coast at the western edge of the Sahara Desert and serves as the country’s capital and largest city.

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Population and Demographic Trends

Nouakchott is located in southwestern Mauritania, along the Atlantic coast at the western edge of the Sahara Desert and serves as the country’s capital and largest city.

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Economy

Economic activity in Nouakchott is driven by commerce, public administration, and services, including the financial sector, alongside small-scale industry. Port-related activities anchored by the Port of Nouakchott (Port de l’Amitié) play a central role in trade and logistics, while fisheries and fisheries-related activities constitute a critical pillar of employment and local economic activity.

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Built Form

Between 1985 and 2015, the built-up area increased from approximately 28.6 km² to 121.1 km², with the most recent expansion occurring mainly toward the east and southeast, as well as north of Ksar and Tevragh-Zeina and west of Sebkha.

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Climate Conditions

Nouakchott exhibits consistently high solar photovoltaic potential across the urban area. Air quality is very poor citywide, with PM2.5 concentrations far exceeding WHO guideline values. Summer surface temperatures display a clear coastal-to-inland gradient, with cooler conditions along the coast and progressively higher temperatures inland and toward the east.

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Risk Identification

Nouakchott experiences three large floodings (1995, 2013, and 2022), and exposure is widespread: by 2015, approximately 33% of the built-up area lay within combined riverine, rainwater, and coastal flood risk zones. Around 30% of high-density population areas and a substantial share of critical infrastructure are exposed to flooding. While seismic hazard and landslide susceptibility is generally low, liquefaction susceptibility is predominantly medium, with higher risk along the coastal fringe and select inland pockets. Burnability is limited in extent but spatially concentrated along the urban periphery. Extreme heat, water scarcity, and tsunami risk are also identified as other significant threats to the city.

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Local Institutions and Planning

Mauritania is a unitary semi-presidential system, with national government functions concentrated in Nouakchott. Administrative authority is shared across regions (wilayas), departments (moughataas), and communes, with communes responsible for local service delivery and communal affairs. Since the late 1970s, and reinforced through decentralization reforms since the 1990s, local governments have gained greater roles in planning and development, though capacity constraints remain

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Setting the Context

Basic City Information

City: Nouakchott Country: Mauritania Population (est. 2025): 1,417,792 Area: 358.5 km² Climate: Hot desert climate (BWh)

Located in the southwest of Mauritania, Nouakchott is the capital and largest city of the nation. Facing the Atlantic coast at the western edge of the Sahara Desert, the city is connected to the rest of the country through the national road network, particularly the N1, N2, N3, and N4 roads, which serve as its main overland corridors. Nouakchott is also served by Nouakchott–Oumtounsy International Airport, located approximately 25 km north of the city. The local economy is driven by commerce, public administration, services (including the financial sector), small-scale industry, and port-related activities anchored by the Port of Nouakchott (Port de l’Amitié). Fisheries and fisheries-related trade also play a crucial role in the local economy. Nouakchott faces multiple hazards, including extreme heat, water scarcity, and risk of tsunami. As climate change continues to impact weather patterns, the frequency and severity of these hazards are expected to increase, posing additional threats and compounding challenges for resilience.

Climate classification from Kottek et al’s 2006 Köppen-Geiger update. Encyclopaedia Britannica (2025); FAO (2024, November); GFDRR (2025); Waze (2025); Wikipedia (2025), WorldPop Global2 (2025). The boundary shown represents the official administrative boundary of Nouakchott. While useful for governance and data consistency, administrative boundaries do not capture the full extent of urban, environmental, and socio-economic processes. A broader spatial perspective beyond jurisdictional limits is important to adequately assess aspects such as hazards, infrastructure interdependencies, and functional urban dynamics.

Economic Activity

Built Form

Climate Conditions

The WSF harmonization was done by applying morphology operations to the more recent WSF Tracker, resampling to WSF Evolution, and masking the WSF Evolution extent by the 2016 built-up footprint in order to create a consistent time series of changes in built-up extent.

Risk Identification

Local Institutions & Planning

Administrative Structure

  • Mauritania is an Islamic republic, with its government based in the capital city of Nouakchott. It operates under a unitary semi-presidential system, in which the President serves as head of state and government and appoints a Prime Minister to assist in governing
  • The Ordinance 79-026 issued in 1979 on the organization of the regions and the district of Nouakchott reinforced the deconcentration of the central power by establishing advisory councils at the three levels of regions (wilayas), departments (moughataas), and districts
  • Since the creation of communes in 1987 and the subsequent national and municipal elections in 1992, Mauritania continued the progressive process of decentralization, reinforced by the creation of regions in 2018
  • Communes are responsible for the management of communal interests and for providing public services that meet the needs of the local population and that do not fall within the jurisdiction of the State by their nature or importance

Regions of Mauritania. Source: World Atlas, 2023. OECD/UCLG. 2022

Availability Of Development Plans And Policies

  • Following the completion of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP, 2001–2015), Mauritania adopted the Strategy for Accelerated Growth and Shared Prosperity (SCAPP) 2016–2030 as its long-term development framework. The SCAPP is implemented through successive multi-year Action Plans. After the second Action Plan (2021–2025), the Government is currently preparing a third Action Plan for the period 2026–2030
  • The second Action Plan of the SCAPP covers the period 2021–2025 and was designed to advance economic diversification and competitiveness, while sustaining growth at levels sufficient to address social deficits and place Mauritania on a sustainable development trajectory
  • In 2020, the country adopted its National Strategy for Decentralization and Local Development (SNDDL), which aims, by 2028, to position local and regional authorities as key drivers of inclusive territorial governance, ensuring more equitable access to basic services and supporting local economic development nationwide

Mauritania’s current national strategy (volume I and II). Government of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, n.d.-a; n.d.-b.

The State of Urban Infrastructure and Service Delivery

Land Administration

Since the adoption of the Land Code in 1983, all land has been owned by the State. Customary tenure remains widespread in rural areas but is not legally recognized. Mauritanian legislation does, however, provide special rights for pastoral lands and oases. Land tenure and registration systems are complex, and the revised Land Code of 1990 offers limited security for smallholders with usufructuary rights and for women. Although the law formally supports the redistribution of land to the landless, many formerly enslaved people continue to work for their former enslavers. Fertile land is scarce, making land-related disputes a primary source of conflict, particularly between farmers and pastoralists. These disputes are intensified by ethnic tensions, large-scale mining projects, and agribusiness investments in the Senegal River Valley, reinforcing land insecurity as a major contributor to economic hardship, with direct implications for poverty reduction efforts in Mauritania.

Energy

With a national electricity access rate of 57% as of 2024, access remains highly unequal: while coverage is around 95% in urban areas, it is only 12% in rural areas. The SCAPP 2016–2030 indicator framework (MPME) aims to achieve 85% national electricity access by 2030, bridging territorial disparities by raising electrification rates to 95% in urban areas and 40% in rural areas. However, electrification does not necessarily imply continuous access: despite the share of renewable energy in the national energy mix reaching 43% in 2023, many urban neighborhoods do not have uninterrupted electricity supply, and the power delivered is often of low quality.

Housing

With 58% of the population living in urban areas, Mauritania faces acute housing challenges, reflected in the persistence of inadequate housing conditions nationwide: 35.35% of the population still lives in precarious housing. In parallel, 59% of the urban population resides in informal settlements, highlighting the scale of informality within cities. The housing deficit is driven by a combination of rapid urbanization, structural shortages in housing production (the gap between demand and supply is estimated at 233%), land-governance constraints, and limited access to housing finance—particularly for social housing policies and options targeting low-income households. Climate vulnerability further compounds this deficit: severe flooding in August 2022 caused damage estimated at up to 3% of GDP and resulted in the destruction of more than 4,000 dwellings. In response, the government has implemented several programs in recent years—including the Taazour program and Secteur 22—alongside the adoption of new regulations aimed at facilitating housing delivery and supporting formal urban expansion.

Disaster Risk Management

Mauritania faces multiple natural hazards, including droughts, floods, wildfires, extreme heat, and storms. Rapid and largely unplanned urban growth has intensified flood impacts, while recurrent droughts and increasing flood-related losses have contributed to food insecurity and slowed progress in poverty reduction, particularly in rural areas. Under the Strategy for Accelerated Growth and Shared Prosperity (SCAPP) 2016–2030, the government identifies disaster risk reduction, emergency preparedness, and response as priority areas. These efforts are to be supported through the adoption of appropriate legal and institutional reforms, the establishment of early warning systems, the systematic integration of disaster risk considerations into sectoral strategies, and the development of effective partnerships among the State, technical and financial partners, and communities to mobilize adequate financing.

Drinking Water Supply

While approximately 78% of the population has access to basic drinking water services, the country faces severe structural scarcity. Water resources are highly unevenly distributed across the territory, and difficulties in mobilizing them—combined with limited knowledge, planning, and management capacity—undermine the sustainability of current extraction practices and the development of new sources. Moreover, the country’s location in a region that is highly vulnerable to climate change accelerates the depletion and degradation of the reserves. To address these challenges, the government is committed to expanding access across all production zones. The strategy focuses on improving knowledge, monitoring, and protection of the resources while promoting more efficient and rational usage. It also includes initiatives to update the legislative, regulatory, and normative framework governing the sector. Additionally, under the SCAPP, the government plans the construction of dams and irrigation channels, the drilling of boreholes, and the installation of pumping, conveyance, and distribution infrastructure to secure long-term access.

Urban Roads & Transport

Mauritania’s urban areas, particularly Nouakchott, face mounting transportation and mobility challenges driven by accelerated urbanization. This expansion has led to increasing congestion and pollution while contributing to a rise in road accidents—a consequence of surging motorization rates and the absence of comprehensive safety strategies. Furthermore, access to opportunities remains spatially unequal, with the poorest regions experiencing limited connectivity while informal transport services dominate the system. In response, the government aims to strengthen institutional and operational capacities to improve the performance and reliability of the sector. This strategy involves modernizing existing infrastructure and equipment through the implementation of a robust road maintenance system, and operationalizing vehicle overload controls to preserve road longevity. Additionally, the government seeks to enhance overall efficiency by ensuring that airport and port facilities, along with their associated equipment, fully comply with international standards.

Solid Waste Management

With households producing an average of 0.5 kg/day per capita in urban areas (and 0.3 kg in rural zones), waste management has become a significant challenge. Specifically in Nouakchott, the rapid evolution from a small fishing village to a bustling capital has intensified waste management pressures compounded by persistent infrastructure gaps and underlying cultural and socioeconomic dynamics that constrain effective service delivery. Currently, municipal collection covers only 30% of the capital, forcing a high reliance on informal collectors or self-disposal methods. The situation is even more acute in secondary cities, where local administrations struggle with limited financial resources, technical capacity, and a lack of integrated service planning. In recent years, the government has accelerated efforts to modernize and improve the services. Key initiatives include the construction of new sanitary landfills and the national prohibition of plastic bags and packaging. Complementing these measures, the government launched the Regional Network for Integrated Waste Management (RNIWM) to transform the country’s waste management systems through decentralized, sustainable, and community-led approaches.

Local Administration

Mauritania operates under a partially devolved local government system, with decision-making power shared between the national government and local authorities. The country is administratively divided into 15 regions (wilayas), which are further subdivided into 63 departments (moughataas) and 238 communes. Each region is subject to the power of a governor (wali) appointed by the central government. The regions have the task of promoting economic, social, cultural and scientific development within their jurisdictions, while respecting the integrity, autonomy and powers of other local authorities. They also play a critical role in ensuring the cohesion of development and spatial planning strategies. At the local level, communes are governed by municipal councils elected for five-year terms through universal direct suffrage. These communes are responsible for managing communal interests and providing public services that, by their nature or scale, meet the needs of the local population and do not fall under the direct jurisdiction of the State.

Land Administration: Arab Land Initiative & GLTN (2025); Land Portal (2021). Housing: Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa (CAHF) (2020); CAHF (2025); Ministère de l’Économie et des Finances (MEF) (2024); UN-Habitat (2024); World Bank (2024a, 2024b). Energy: MEF (2024); MEF (2025). Disaster Risk Management: GFDRR (n.d.); World Bank (2024c). Water: World Bank (2019; 2022). Solid Waste Management: Arab Urban Development Institute (n.d.); Ebnou Abdem et al. (2024); GIZ & SWEEP-Net (2014); Sciences et Avenir (2013); World Bank (2024b). Urban Roads and Transport: World Bank (2021). Local Administration: European Committee of the Regions (n.d.); OECD & UCLG. (2022); Trans-Saharan Elections Project (n.d.); Wikipedia (2025a, 2025b).

Key Considerations for Investment Planning & Prioritization

Concluding Questions

  1. What is the most surprising result for you in this City Scan?

  2. What patterns did this City Scan illuminate that you had not considered before?

  3. What are your city’s critical development challenges?

  4. What other information would you like in order to corroborate or amplify the information in this City Scan?

  5. Who else would you like to speak with to gain further understanding about your city’s development challenges?

  6. What investments need to be prioritized? What trade-offs are inherent in your prioritization?

  7. What investments could be coordinated? What benefits would such coordination bring?

Last edited 2026-02-06.

This City Scan is a product of the City Resilience Program.

The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this City Scan do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank, the Executive Directors of the World Bank, or the governments they represent. Given that the data included in this work are derived from global sources, the World Bank does not guarantee its accuracy.